Bermuda reverses same-sex marriage ban after travel boycott

The LGBT community scored a huge win on June 6, when Bermuda’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage. When the ban initially went into effect in May 2017, celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres called for a boycott on travel to Bermuda, seeking to deal a blow to the island’s tourism industry. Organizations like GLAAD and Travel Designers also asked people to stop visiting the island, to help speak out against the ban.

Carnival Corporation, which operates several ships registered in Bermuda, were particularly strong opponents of the ban, as it disallowed them from performing same-sex weddings on board anywhere in the world. “We support marriage equality,” they said in a statement. “We have been actively engaged in supporting efforts by OUTBermuda…to legally challenge the action to again allow same-sex marriages on the island.”

Following the reversal of the ban, Carnival praised Bermuda’s LGBTQ families and the leadership of OUTBermuda for “making their case before the Supreme Court of Bermuda to restore the right to marry for all.”

LGBTQ travel has changed a lot in recent years. Travel blogger Adam Groffman recently told Quartz that, “for a long time it was about specifically visiting LGBT-owned places,” but given the world’s rising inclusivity, that’s not as necessary anymore.

It remains to be seen if the reversal will result in increased tourism to the island, or if that reversal will eventually be appealed, but for now, opponents of the ban are enjoying their victory.

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